Hack
by Pyoshi
Summary: Turbo is dead, the NPCs have new homes, and Ralph is finally happy with his life. However, what will happen when they meet a games worst nightmare: an anti-social young man with knowledge of code and the drive to see what makes their box tick? OCs will NOT be the focus of this story, but they will be included.
1. Chapter 1

**(AN: Woo, chapter 1, in the bag! I hope you all like it; the only OCs I'll be using will be human, and with luck, they won't be too annoying. After all, what's the point of using the setting if you don't focus on the videogames? :)**

**I have an idea that I'm a really big fan of, and that's the main reason I'm writing this, but another big factor is the fact that I really want to beta read. Buuut, this story has to be at least 5000 words before I can officially do that. So, if you like, send me your chapters, I'll go over them, and with luck, the general quality of everything will go up!**

**But that's enough from me. Lights! Camera! Action!)**

_Posted by: mariokoopa96 at 7:25, 8/19/13 _

_Thread title: old game easter eggs!_

_hey, what was your favorite easter egg when you used to play retro games? And dont just post things everyones heard of!_

_for example in fix it felix jr if you get to level 20, it opens a bonus level where you ride a q*bert! :)_

_Posted by: retrogameluver9 at 7:30, 8/19/13_

_Uh, excuse me? You're obviously very young, so I'll cut you some slack, but there was never such a thing. There's no point in making up rumors when I can just check for myself with google. This is even worse than your post about King Candy in Sugar Rush._

_Besides, I've played Fix-it Felix Jr. about a million times, that game's as boring as dirt._

_Posted by: mariokoopa96 at 7:45, 8/19/13_

_well if your going to be rude about it... look I never made anything up you must of gotten a bad copy._

_I swear I never made anything up._

The man entered the building for the twelve thousandth time in his life, and there was light.

It was the sickly, dim sort of light that was generally found in old arcades. After all, it was easier to see a screen in the dark, wasn't it?

The oldest business in town was Litwak's Family Fun Center, and it showed. From the dusty old carpeting to the 8-bit game machines, everything about it felt like a bit of the 90s had been lopped off and stuck in a building. Yeah, Mr. Litwak made a few token efforts to modernize things, sure, when a game broke or malfunctioned, he'd replace it with something newer, but he really couldn't bear to change too much. After all, the Center had been in business for over thirty five years! For him and for many of the adults who visited, there was too much nostalgia in the air. Not to mention the sawdust and smell of dry soda that seemed to cling to everything, despite Litwak's best attempts.

And that was just how the inhabitants of the arcade liked it. There was something to be said for job security, and it was very assuring to know that if you did what you were meant to, and nothing went wrong, you weren't going anywhere. The trick was making sure everything went smoothly.

At first, it looked like every other day at the arcade. There was a brief period before opening where all the characters took a second to look themselves over, tune up their carts, and generally make sure that nothing about them was out of order. Around this time, Game Central Station was a lot quieter. You might see some still-homeless NPCs huddled around a fire flower, but not many people were reckless enough to risk missing the opening of the arcade.

After 8:15, anyone could come in, and usually there was a small trickle of kids that slowly turned into a torrent as the day went by. Birthday parties came and went, and the games played just as well as they always did. Later, Felix Jr. would lament not paying closer attention to the actions of the regulars who wandered in, and Ralph would smash several important pieces of architecture out of frustration, instead of his usual scripted rage.

Today was Litwak's Nephew's birthday, and he had a very specific wish.

Jeremy had been playing videogames from a very young age, and had gotten his first computer when he was 12. In retrospect, he was very, very thankful that he'd gotten a computer instead of the NES that he wanted. After all, he had been forced to learn a bit of coding to even work the damn machine, and what was the point of having a game console when your uncle had an arcade?

He had learned pretty quickly that he was popular in school because of his ability to score free parties at Litwak's, and he had learned even faster that he wasn't nearly confident enough to reject them because of this. Sure, he was being used, but it was much better than being alone.

As the children grew older and older, however, the promise of free arcade games grew less and less tantalizing. After all, videogames were baby stuff, and those who DID play games usually had an SNES tucked under their bed with a rats nest of wires and controllers surrounding it like a cocoon.

And Jeremy was left alone, with his crummy old computer.

It had been years since that occurred, and now, Jeremy was almost thankful for his trials. He had programmed tens of games since then, usually simple little affairs, and had put them up online in a desperate plea for attention. He received none. It was when he began modding games that his chance came along, and before he knew it, he had a library of "original" platformers, and 14k in the bank from his work. His programming was his hobby, his job, and his life.

And DESPITE ALL THIS-despite the work and passion he had for his job!- his uncle never, ever let him mess with the insides of his machines. Too risky, the man would always say! Too likely to make poor ol' Ralph and Felix kick the bucket, if Jeremy made a mistake. It always annoyed Jeremy, how the old man would refer to the characters as if they were old friends of his. It reminded him too much of how he used to make up stories about their adventures.

All of that was irrelevant, now. For his birthday surprise, his uncle left the building, picked up his nephew from work, smiled, and said the one thing that made every bit of frustration Jeremy had ever had with the man vanish.

"Well, I s'ppose you know more about those old machines than I do, when it comes down to it. You can have a poke around Felix and Ralph's machine for a bit. As long as you can fix it afterwards, well, why shouldn't you have a gander?"

Jeremy gawped, gave a wide, goofy grin, and hugged his uncle for the first time in 10 years.

Then he laughed. "I can fix it!"


	2. Chapter 2

**( Thanks a lot for all the reviews and follows! I really wasn't expecting that. No wonder so many people beg for them. Anywho, the offer to beta is still up, if you like. And thanks a lot for all those comments about Jeremy not driving you bonkers. Don't worry, I'll be including flaws and quirks and all that nice, humanizing stuff. Oh, and sorry for the short chapters!**

**EDIT: I went back and modified a bit of this chapter. I wasn't happy with the bar scene at the end, so I went back, did a few touch ups... basically made it all-around better. Tell me whatcha think? Don't worry though, Vanellope will definitely make an appearance.)**

* * *

_Crazy Otto was easily one of the most famous game mods ever. The company that had created it was under fire for their "Game Enhancements," kits that would take arcade consoles, and change them into entirely new games. Most of the time, these changes were as simple as making the paddle smaller in pong or adding a few extra balls to breakout. In this case, the creators of the mod had a look at Pac-Man, and decided that it would be much better with extra mazes, faster ghosts, and maybe a little plot. The main and most obvious change to the game was the addition of legs to Pac-Man._

_Before they could release it, however, Namco had a look at it, and bought the rights. They made a small sprite edit, designed a new machine to play it, and sold the boxes to arcades around the world._

_To appeal to the women who played, they added a bow and some makeup to Pac-Man, and Mrs. Pac-Man was born._

* * *

The day at the arcade came and went, and the eye-searingly bright light from the glass doors slowly faded to orange, and then nothing. Trophies were won, princesses were saved, and candy was spilled onto the carpet, just as usual. A kid bet his best friend that he would beat his Hero's Duty high score, and subsequently, friendships were broken. A screaming five year old shoved cake into his greedy maw as he fumbled around on the Fix-It Felix Jr. machine.

Ralph dropped a more bricks than usual on that kids turn. He felt a little guilty when the kid cried, but still, icing didn't exactly make the joystick more fun to use.

Most of the time, being 8-bit was irritating, especially when they had to start turning NPCs down due to lack of system space. The way it was always night was a little annoying, too, but at least he'd had thirty years to get used to that. However, sometimes, Ralph was glad that his system wasn't more advanced. If the thing could handle more words than "I'M GONNA WRECK IT," it would have been a lot harder to have conversations in the small breaks between games.

"Hey, Felix!" He shouted, pointing towards a pair of kids who were currently standing in front of their machine and having a heated argument over who would beat the first level faster. It was a bit hard to hear through the thick glass, but their wild flailing and wimpy punches more than made up for it. Somehow, he had the feeling they were having far more fun arguing than they would actually playing. They were probably really nice kids, Ralph mentally noted, but the braces on the kid on the right and the thick glasses on the kid on the left were a bit distracting.

"Who do you think will win, Bucktooth or Cokebottles?"

"Now, Ralph..." Felix began, before cutting himself off. That was just how Ralph was; he didn't really mean anything by it. He sucked some air through his teeth, giving both kids a look.

"Okay, uh, there. Did you see how fast the girl on the left hit the boy? I bet she'll be the fastest."

Ralph grinned. "Yeah, sure. And if the other kid wins, you owe me a drink at Tappers."

Felix smiled. "You're on, brother, just so long as you can drag yourself back. The last time I paid, I had to carry you back, and why... I almost broke my-"

"Yeah, yeah," Ralph waved a hand, dismissing Felix's plight. "Don't you worry abou-"

There were a few clicks as a quarter slid smoothly into the coin slot, and Cokebottles took her position in front of the game.

* * *

Jeremy tried not to watch as his uncle dragged the two beaten-up children from the arcade. One's glasses were broken, and the other seemed to have several teeth loose after the fight that resulted after the game. Jeez Louise, why did they have to be so competitive? Fights made him want to puke. It wasn't even because he really cared about people, he'd just had his own glasses broken one too many times to enjoy violence anywhere but on the screen.

The clocked ticked to 9:00, and the buzzer signalling closing time finally went off. Disappointed kids wandered out of the arcade, but Jeremy practically jumped off the bench he had spent the last five hours on. Finally! Most people would say that sitting on your ass programming videogames on your laptop was kind of a bad way to spend your birthday, and it was, but it was all worth it. Besides, it's not like he had any friends of his own.

He watched idly as his uncle cleaned up the arcade. The man really loved his place, didn't he? Litwak did all he could to keep the arcade machines in tip-top condition. As Litwak walked out, he put two things next to his Nephew on the bench. The keys and the quarter bucket both gave a loud jingle as they came into contact with the wood, and it was all Jeremy could do not to jump three feet in the air. Litwak took off his glasses, and wiped them against his dusty shirt.

"Now, kiddo, remember; you can do whatever you like to the machines, fine, but... make sure they're okay afterwards, alright?"

Jeremy agreed, yeah, sure, whatever. He wasn't really sure WHY his uncle had such an obsession with his arcade, and to be honest, he was beginning to suspect he wasn't right in the head. Dementia did run in the family...

After his uncle drove off, he took about 15 minutes to add some code to his modifications. He'd never touched a real arcade machine, and they seemed pretty simple, but... after that show his uncle gave him...

Well, whatever. What was the worst that could happen?

* * *

As soon as the working day was over, and Yuri could see from her position near the door that EVERYONE was out, she performed the ritual of letting everyone know that it was safe to leave work and relax. Doing the same thing over and over was tiring, and the characters relished the time of day where they could let their hair down and visit friends, go out to eat, or even work on hobbies.

Normally, at a time like this, Felix would be polishing his medals, or maybe working on his model railroad, but...

Ralph laughed from the mud puddle, somehow managing to look incredibly triumphant even when covered in mud.

"Oy! Felix! C'mon down, you promised!"

Felix was almost tempted to pretend that he didn't hear him, but, well... that was dishonest, and as a hero, he had to be a rolemodel. A paragon of virtue. Besides, with how loud Ralph could yell, Felix had the feeling that VANELLOPE could hear him from the other side of the arcade.

"Yeah, alright!" He called down, before jumping down the windowsills, to the ground. In all his years, he'd never bothered to check if the building even had a stairwell; it was much faster just to go directly down.

To be honest, he wasn't really sure about this, which was REALLY uncomfortable. When you were treated as if you could do no wrong, well, going into a bar that BAD guys frequented... it was enough to give him the shivers! The Heebie-jeebies! But, he HAD promised, and he'd never back out on that. Besides, it wasn't as if he'd never been in Tappers. There had been plenty of times where he'd have to go and drag an extremely hung-over Ralph from the utility closet before the arcade opened.

Ralph caught his expression, and patted him on the back. "Hey, relax, alright? It'll be fun."

Coughed, trying to keep all his air. Even if Ralph was just being friendly, being patted on the back by a giant tended to knock the air out of you, and didn't exactly help with his nervousness. For Ralph's sake, though, he'd try and keep his chin up! Besides, what was the worst that could happen?

They both headed to the little kiddie ride that served as the train out of Fix-it Felix Jr. Another annoying thing about being on an older machine was how the connection between the power cord and the box was oddly slow. It wasn't as if there was anything to see in the tunnel, just some old, incomprehensible graffiti. "No n00bs?" "Do the Mario?"

However, by the time they GOT to the station, it was a lot more crowded than it usually was; in fact, it was more packed than either Felix or Ralph had ever seen it, and that was really saying something. Sprites were crowded shoulder to shoulder, and everyone was peering apprehensively at the giant bay windows.

"OOF-hey, watch it!" Ralph wasn't exactly a fan of being crowded. Being alone for most of his life combined with a bit of a temper meant that he couldn't handle a room with more than thirty people, and as soon as he tried to get out, a Goomba got the brunt of his foot. Felix, despite himself, was pretty glad that he had Ralph to clear the space.

"Now, what in the heavens is going on here?" Felix asked, glancing around. Everyone simply looked at him apprehensively, and slowly, a voiceless NPC gestured towards the window.

Oh. There was a human in the arcade.

Huh.


End file.
